Expectations and Reality
by SherlockSmile
Summary: Ariadne and Cobb try to keep a secret relationship, yet Arthur and Eames find out. Featuring R.Fischer.
1. Chapter 1

Any questions about this, feel free to ask.

I do not own these characters.

:]

* * *

"Ariadne, not this agai-"

"Please."

"OK, what can I do for you pet?" Eames asks, keeping his voice low and calm. He's trying to apprehend your points, but he never listens, not properly anyway.

"He doesn't answer my calls." You say in a dejected tone, running a hand through your hair.

"Give the guy some space."

"I have."

"Well, give him more. He's stubborn."

**xxx**

_You look up at the grey skyline. White, murky clouds illuminated by silent strikes of lightning. It's raining fiercely. The bitter, sharp drops falling harshly, soaking your hair and penetrating your clothes._

_Then you see the back of Cobb._

_He's slightly in the distance, head looked up towards a narrow, ash building. You try walking over to him but your legs don't comply, freezing on the concrete._

_"Cobb," you yell, needing him to turn around, needing to know whats going._

_"Cobb!" No answer, never an answer. The rains getting heavier, smashing into your face till red dots are visible on your skin. _

_"He can't here you." Says a smooth voice from the right of you. You don't turn around because it's always the same person, always the same accent, always the same scenerio._

_"I'm sorry." You say because it needed said, because you'll always feel guilty no matter how many times you repeat it. Robert smiles down at you, the same assuring smile that always appears in this situation. Even now it brings you comfort, knowing your not alone in Cobb's shadows._

_"She's beautiful, you know." He nods in the direction infront of you. You look at Robert, his intense, aqua eyes cast upon the very same ash building._

**xxx**

He's hooked up, dim and lifeless. The most peaceful Cobb's ever looked.

You hook yourself up even though he knows nothing of your appearance.

You enter his world.

**xxx**

_"Why won't he turn around?" Robert puts an arm around your shoulder, embracing you in his arm._

_"Why won't he turn around!"_

_"She's beautiful." He states._

_"Robert-" He threads his fingers through your dark, chestnut waves, grasping gently at the back of your neck. _

_"He'll never hear you." The rain's flooding down now, more violent than before that it's pushing your body down till you're afraid it will crush your very being. _

_Even in the freezing cold with just a thin white shirt and unbuttoned waistcoat he's smiling, always smiling. The sky's becoming more clouded, shading ever ounce of light till your sight is vague and misty. _

_Robert's fading, walking over to Cobb till he's standing next to him but still facing you. _

_Your safe harbours gone and you're alone, you can't move, you can't breathe. _

_"Cobb! Robert!" You plea along with salted tears touching your lips and scolding your cheeks crimson._

**xxx**

"Sorry," a slight smile warms his face, "you're not a kid."

He leans down to kiss your lips softly and cautiously; wary of your reaction. Your anger at him bleeds through and you kiss him harshly, biting and sucking at his bottom lip.

He's surprised but continues with the same aggression, moving his hand under your top and clutching the bare skin of your hip, pressing you against the wall. You grab his neck for leverage, grasping his hair. The moist creases of his swollen lips trail feverishly along your neck, his tongue sweeping along your jawline till it meets your lips again. You wrap your legs around him, crossing them behind his waist and tightening your grip.

You panic at how fast it's moving. The kind of panic that rushes through your body, stops at your throbbing cliterous and arches your back till you fully against him, feeling him getting hard. His forehead rests against yours and he laughs, you do the same.

**xxx**

_It's changed. _

_The dim, dusky sky with constant rain is still the same. But this time you're sitting on a soaked, wooden bench in the middle of a deserted park. No-one else around apart from him, always him. _

_"Why are you here?" You ask. He's of no importance in your life, just a memory that lingers in your head and eats at every truth you've known. Guilt so strong it's taken a form._

_"Because you need me to be." _

_Silence. _

_"Why can't he hear me?"_

_"He chooses not to." The inevitable answer that always comes from Robert's mouth and no matter how much you hear it, it still stabs you straight in the stomach, steel lingering then pulled out quickly like a bandage._

_"He's lost himself and doesn't want to be found." Robert says and smiles. Always that same damn smile. _

_This is new. Robert has never said this before and that helps, it shows you're getting somewhere, not just stuck in the same vicious circle._

_"Why won't you wake me up?"_

_Memories flash like broken fragments of a once known life, reflecting ever piece of emotion you've ever felt. _

_It all disappears, just like that. _

_"You've lost yourself and don't want to be found."_

**xxx**

"You've not called in a while, was starting to get worried."

"Give it time, you said."

"Cobb told me," pity oozes from Eames voice, "If I knew it was that serious Ariadne... you should have told me."

"He told you? It was one time, it meant nothing."

Liar.

"And here's me thinking you were bloody saint."

**xxx**

"_You infected my mind!" Black gun angled in hand, rain drips from his sleek hair onto his face. Mixing with his not so subtle tears._

_Your face is buried in your hands, tears leaking from your eyes, "I'm sorry."_

_"I don't know who I am."_

_You look up. He changes the direction of the gun and points it towards his temple. You run at him, grabbing his arm and forcing it down so the gun can do no harm._

_"Limbo!" You scream, not wanting to be alone, not wanting him to be forever trapped._

_He smiles, that same, stupid, comforting smile while he pulls the trigger._

**xxx**

_"FRIENDS CONSIDER FISCHER JR MENTAL STATE AFTER-" _You look at the bold, black headline, another episode in the Fischer scandal.

Robert's memory and mind conjuring up events that never happened, Roberts Paranoia, Robert's depression.

The papers lie. Well, you hope they lie.

**xxx**

_He's standing in the distance, perfect as ever. The closer you get to him the hazier he gets, but you still manage to grab onto his shoulders and for the first time, look at his face._

_"You're waiting for a train." Cobb says, desperation in his eyes._

_"Ari!" Robert yells from behind you._

_"Cobb, listen to me-"_

_"A train that will take you far away." An onslaught of rain bombards down, splashing roughly on every dark surface._

_"We need to get out of here!"_

_"You know where you hope this train will take you." _

_"Ariadne, nothings real!" Roberts desperately calling you, getting closer. The thunder's started, faintly blackening the sky till it's black. Never light._

_"But you can't know for sure," Cobb smiles now, pressing the pad of his thumb to your cheek._

_"We need to wake up, together!" _

_"Yet it doesn't matter." He's still smiling. Everything about him content._

_"Cobb, stop it!"_

_"Now tell me why?" Cobb asks, bracketing your face with his palms, blue eyes intent on your answer. Your crying because there's nothing else to do, nothing else to make sense out of because nothing does make sense. _

_"Where are we?" You say calmly. Smiling weakly and resting your hand around his neck._

_Robert's got hold off you now, arms wrapped around your stomach, pulling you away from Cobb. You resist, kick, scream and scratch while Cobb just smiles. Just smiling at your desperation to be close to him again. _

_Your faraway now and crying, tears streaming into Roberts white shirt as you crumple it in your hands, pulling it close to your face. He's warm from running and his hair wet and sticking up in all directions due to the rain. You cry more. He rakes his hand through your hair, hooking his thumb under your chin._

_"Time to wake up." _

_He smiles, always smiling. You smile back, a petty, sad smile, but a smile all the same._

_"I wonder what would happen if the sun went out." He says._


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you love me?" It's a simple question that only requires a simple answer, yet Cobb's eyes look up at you, his lips peeling from your neck.

"What?" He mutters, returning to your neck, biting it eagerly. He trails his tongue down the hollow of your neck, lips moulding wetly at your skin. He's always avoiding personal questions you direct at him, never wanting to get close to you in _that _way. You push him back slightly, wriggling free from the counter top your sitting on, your feet returning to the cold laminate.

"What's with you lately?" You ask.

**xxx**

_"So, what would happen if the sun went out?" You ask because your bored, because you hate the silence and because that odd question keeps getting stuck in your head. Like it's been wedged there, waiting for you to speak it aloud._

_Robert smiles slightly, turning around and sitting on the grass, folding his legs he purses his lips and bows his head, almost as if he's gone shy._

_"You really wanna know?"_

_"I really wanna know." You concur, bending and splitting the pieces of grass your fidgeting with. He looks up at you, pupils so big his eyes almost look black and skin suddenly an alarmingly translucent pale._

_"You die."_

**xxx**

"Am I a substitute for Mal?" You ask him, with an awkward smile . Eames rubes the back of his neck uncomfortably and opens the door to his car, resting his hand on the roof.

"I best be going-"

"Eames."

"Look pet, I don't think so."

He gives you that old smirk he wore when you remember first meeting him, so carefree and ready for the job, now he just wants away from it all, away from all the danger and risk. Eames bites his thumb as if he's pricked it, then cocks his head, arms outstretched and waiting for your petite body to grace them.

You walk over to him reluctantly, hating goodbyes and the emotion that goes with them. He senses your resistance -he always does- yet continues to grab you into an bear hug till your feet leave the ground and he's spinning you in the air. Eames lets go off you softly, hand squeezing your shoulder and the other ruffling your hair. He kisses your forehead, lips soft and warm.

"Remember that I love you. Be safe."

**xxx**

_He's sitting in the distance, peering at the moonlight while the light hits the shadows of his face. He looks awfully lonely and you can't stand it._

_"He's not like us, he's dangerous. He'll hurt you."_

You look at Robert, he's stopped smiling ever since the rain stopped falling, and this time it isn't any different. He's no longer happy.

_"I'm human." You mumble._

_"Hmm?" _

_"You're not," You look up at him, "You're not human."_

**xxx**

"Hello?"

"So, you and Cobb then?"

Your heart immediately stops and you can feel the blood rushing rapidly to your checks. You place yourself onto your cream sofa, curling the phone cord and squeezing it in a tightened fist.

"Arthur?"

"Who else." His voice oozes supremacy. He's annoyed, which is obvious, yet he's trying to keep his voice cool and calm. It's not working.

"What makes you think that-"

"Eames." It's a statement full of resentment. You mentally swear, taking note to be careful with secrets and Eames. They obviously don't go well together.

"And you called because?"

"You're not good for him. He's using you Ariadne, I don't want to see you get hurt. I don't want to see _him _getting hurt." With that you know he doesn't care about your feelings in this, only Cobb's. Ever the possessive Arthur you think, wanting Cobb to himself.

"You sound Jealous."

You hear him swear distantly, then the sharpness of a dial tone.

xxx

_With slight hesitation you stand on the vibrating tracks, gentle tears running softly down your face. You see the train in the distance and want to retreat from the tracks and stay in this place you have created. Then you know you'll be safe and wouldn't need to feel pain. However your legs stay rooted on the metal and you know it's for the best._

_"This is goodbye then?"Asks Robert walking over to your side. He's soaking wet although there's not a drop in sight._

_"Y- yep." Your voice is hitching and you feel like your losing control, fear grasping you and cutting into you, leaving it's mark. He smiles and wraps his hand around yours, clutching tightly. _

_You feel better knowing your not in this alone, even if he is just a fading projection. _

_Now the trains closer and your facing it head on. Tears getting more violent till you tell yourself you cant do it anymore. Till your screaming out loud and shaking. _

_Robert lets go off your hand and you protest. He stands in front of you, slightly blocking the view of the train. _

_"C'mere." He says, and wraps his protective arms around you, making sure your head fits perfectly into his chest. The closer the train gets, the more tighter his grip becomes. _

_It's almost bearable now, knowing that your either going to die painfully or wake up safe._

_"Remember that I love you. Be safe." Robert says in perfect sync and tone as you remember Eames saying it. _

_The bright orange flames of the sun are fading, disappearing into the blackness of the sky. _

_You feel the impact of the train straight on, crushing and straining your bones till your body can take no more. Ripping you apart._


End file.
